Mandeville, LA - David Simpson was elected a delegate to the LA GOP Convention at the GOP Caucus of 28 April, 2012. Mr. Simpson is a co-founder of the ReFounding Fathers Society and also a contributor to the Mike Church Show on Sirius/XM and the Post Show Show. Below is Mr. Simpson's account of the events that transpired Saturday, in Shreveport, LA at the LA GOP state convention.

By David Simpson - That politics has devolved from reason and principles to base emotions and power-plays is a fact that we will all rue one day…probably soon. Still, we can pray for the return of statesmen whose principle concerns are the nature of good government and the ethical considerations of how a people ought to be governed.

For now, we are left with the dysfunctional political parties. Witness the recent Louisiana State Republican Party convention, which I attended as a duly elected delegate. Suffice it to say that there was a difference of opinion as to how the delegates to the National Convention should be allocated. That question is still very much at issue and would be worthy of considerable debate.

Instead, the leadership of the Republican Party, along with some fawning bootlicks, tried to preemptively dictate the outcome in violation of any standards of fairness and decency. Though the majority of delegates (111 of 180) are variously depicted as “Ron Paul followers”, “libertarians” or “whackos”, the reality is that this majority delegation of certified republicans is principally a group of concerned citizens motivated by two primary notions:

• First, that America is in serious decline, and
• Second, that this is due in large part to our refusal to follow our foundational law, the Constitution. (For sake of clarity, we’ll call this subset, and rising power, of the republican party “constitutionalists”).

What is so radical about those ideas?

But the LAGOP leadership would have none of this. No discussion. No debate. We had no rights, they said. However, consider this. All delegates to the convention were elected on April 28th by republican voters throughout the state and the majority of these voters wanted the aforementioned constitutionalists. Each week thereafter, these delegates met, planned, formed committees, and debated issues in accordance with the known rules of the Republican Party.

Then, on May 31st at 3:30 pm, less than 48 hours before the convention, Roger Villere, Chairman of the Louisiana Republican Party, issued a set of “supplemental rules” completely undoing the month’s work of the delegation and seizing control of the convention for himself. Then to shore up his power grab, Mr. Villere emailed a “supplement to the supplement” at 11:21 pm on Friday, June 1st, less than 12 hours before the start of the convention.

The rest you can see on YouTube. When the leaders of the majority of delegates sought “requests for information”, “points of order” or objected to the proceedings, they were ignored, told not to speak and that they had no rights, and that they needed to sit down and be quiet…like good serfs…or be physically removed.

Some might say that this is just an internal squabble of the Republican Party, so why should we care? I answer that if your leaders (and remember that political conventions are all about selecting leaders) can be selected by such draconian means, then it won’t be long before we have an equally draconian leader. And for those who believe that the LAGOP leadership was justified in their actions, I submit the following evidence in contradiction.

• It was the constitutionalists who were the majority party. If you believe and respect democratic institutions at all, then the majority of republican caucus voters were denied their voice.
• It was the majority delegation, the constitutionalists, who respected and followed the rule of law. It was Mr. Villere who attempted to change the rules at the midnight hour.
• And finally, it was the constitutionalists, the majority party, who attempted to engage in rational, political debate and it was the republican leadership who responded with brute force to silence any objections.

For those who love “the land of the free”, this is not your father’s GOP.

Conversation

Well said, Mr. Miller. Great insight and advice on how to move forward. It is so refreshing to hear such positive comments. If all people of good will would begin to act the same, we would have our country back in a flash.

This is an examp-le of a last ditch effort to hang on to power. It will fail Good will triumph over evil. Right will win out over wrong. It always does. Just remember, as we gain power - we must remain just. We must refrain from being consumed by the power and harness it to do what is right and just.

We have to take over the party. My group is during this on a local level .The Rino's don't like it. They are not issue driven and they will be the last to figure out when our country goes down. My hope is we enough Patriots reset our Country. Thank you Mike . You have enlightened many of us.

cynthia- I think you are correct. I was a "duly-elected delegate" here in Washington Snake, to OUR State GOP Convention, last weekend (running concurrently w/La's). The RNC even sent the "special attorney/Parlimentarian-specialist" who was scheduled to go to th Louisiana Convention, here.
We did not have a majority- just a 35% plurality. The Party Maching systematically voted as a block, eliminating all but a few Delegates to National, who had been elected by their Counties, in seperate caucus'.

And Mike- we LOVE your show. I have described my self as a "Radical Jeffersonian Libertarian", for many years now!! "The South shall rise again!!!"

I think Mike is right in that there is no fixing this mess. The only way short of a 21st Century version of the War between the States is to break up the union. Just as a hypothetical though I would like to see someone ask Romney (and get a straight answer, yeah I know I'm dreaming) if he would take similar action as Lincoln if say one or several states decided that they no longer wanted to participate in this farce.

All that is needed is respectful discussion on the issue of the union and how it could be re-organzied. This issue is so explosive I already receive pushback from just discussing it in the milquetoast way I do on-air.

Politics are broken, I wish there was someone out there who was about the Constitution and representing their constituents and not just another party hack...

If one state, one community stood up and refused to participate in this garbage they call a government... stops sending representatives to their state capitals or to DC I bet other communities would follow.

[The powerful Executive branch]...converts representation into vassalage to the leaders of parties, disciplined, not by the comparatively honourable infliction of the lash, but by the base and wicked sophism, that it is honourable to stick to a party, and treacherous to adhere to conscience. The disciples of this infamous doctrine are forged into tools for ambition and tyranny by praises and rewards, whilst honesty is discouraged by base epithets, as a foil to the varnish with which the decoys are painted, designed to deceive and enslave the multitude

John Taylor of Caroline from his 1814 book "An Inquiry Into the Principles & Policy of the Government of the United States"